| "And the Rest Is Drag" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| RuPaul's Drag Race episode | |||
_%25E2%2580%2593_And_the_Rest_Is_Drag.jpg) Scene from the episode ofPearl performing in front of a green screen during the filming of amusic video, as fellow contestantsViolet Chachki,Kennedy Davenport, andGinger Minj watch from the side | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 7 Episode 12 | ||
| Directed by | Nick Murray | ||
| Original air date | May 18, 2015 (2015-05-18) | ||
| Running time | 42 minutes | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| List of episodes | |||
"And the Rest Is Drag" is the twelfth episode of theseventh season of the American television seriesRuPaul's Drag Race.[1] The episode was directed by Nick Murray and first aired onLogo TV on May 18, 2015. It was followed by an episode of the companion seriesRuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked.
The final challenge of "And the Rest Is Drag" has the remaining four contestants performchoreography for the official music video of "Born Naked" (featuringClairy Browne), a song fromRuPaul's2014 studio album of the same name, and act alongside RuPaul in a series of three sketches directed byMathu Andersen.Candis Cayne is a guest choreographer. The judging panel includes RuPaul,Michelle Visage,Carson Kressley, andRoss Mathews.Kennedy Davenport is eliminated from the competition, leavingGinger Minj,Pearl, andViolet Chachki as finalists.
FollowingKatya's elimination, the remaining four contestants—Ginger Minj, Kennedy Davenport, Pearl, and Violet Chachki—re-enter the Werk Room. Michelle Visage reveals the final challenge, which tasks contestants with performing choreography in the official music video of RuPaul's song "Born Naked" (featuring Clairy Browne), as well as acting in three sketches directed by Mathu Andersen. She also invites the contestants to join RuPaul for one-on-one interviews,[2] and reveals that the contestant who places in the bottom will be edited out of the music video.[3]
Guest choreographer Candis Cayne coaches the contestants in the Werk Room.[4] During her interview with RuPaul, Kennedy Davenport discusses her relationship with her late father and her feelings about his death. Kennedy Davenport also describes how she had to raise her sister, who has anintellectual disability. Ginger Minj talks about her father leaving their family for his high school girlfriend,[5] and Pearl reveals that she experienced multiple forms of trauma at a young age. Violet Chachki describes feeling overlooked as a child because of her sister.[6]
The contestants film their contributions for the music video in front of agreen screen, with assistance from Cayne. An electric fan causes problems with Ginger Minj's and Pearl's wigs. Violet Chachki loses an earring and struggles with choreography.[4] For the acting part of the challenge, RuPaul joins the contestants, who rotate roles. Kennedy Davenport struggles to differentiate her three characters.[3][7] Back in the Werk Room, the contestants prepare for the main stage and runway and share their first impressions of each other. Ginger Minj and Kennedy Davenport, who have dubbed themselves the "Bitter Old Lady Brigade", question if Violet Chachki is experienced and emotionally mature enough to be the season's winner and representative.[7]
On the main stage, RuPaul welcomes fellow judges Visage, Carson Kressley, and Ross Mathews. The runway category is "Best Drag". After the contestants present their looks, RuPaul asks each to share words of advice to their younger selves. The judges view scenes from the sketches directed by Andersen and share their final critiques with the contestants. RuPaul asks the contestants to explain why they should be named "America's next drag superstar" over their opponents. The contestants leave the stage, and the judges deliberate. RuPaul asks all four contestants to face off in alip-sync to "Born Naked"; it is Violet Chachki's first throughout the show.[3] Kennedy Davenport is eliminated from the competition,[8] leaving three finalists to advance. RuPaul asks viewers to share onsocial media who they want to win, ahead of the season finale.
The 42-minute episode was directed by Nick Murray, and originally aired on Logo TV in the U.S. on May 18, 2015.[9] The episode's premiere was seen by close to 310,000 viewers.[10] Its title refers to a lyric and phrasing ("we're all born naked, and the rest is drag") used prominently by RuPaul.[11][12][13] The song "Born Naked", from RuPaul's 2014 studio album of the same name, explores this idea.[14]
Andersen and RuPaul collaborated for many years, until the show'sninth season; Andersen initially did RuPaul's hair and make-up, then directed challenges and became a creative producer ofDrag Race.[15] He was a guest judge in thesecond season and special guest in episodes of thefourth toseventh seasons. For his make-up work in "ShakesQueer", the seventh season's third episode, Andersen received a nomination during the67th Primetime Emmy Awards.[16]Entertainment Weekly described Andersen's sketches in "And the Rest Is Drag" as a "Klumps-style dinner scene" in which RuPaul plays a "dusty old dad" and the contestants portray a "moody" teenager, an "annoying" young girl, and a "pilled-out" mother.[17]
Cayne, atransgender actress and performance artist, has made multiple appearances onDrag Race as well as the spin-offRuPaul's Drag U. Like Andersen, she was a special guest onDrag Race's fourth and fifth seasons and a guest judge on the ninth season's "Snatch Game"episode.[18][19]City Magazine said her choreography in "And the Rest Is Drag" is "in the style of 1980's pop idols likeSheena Easton andPaula Abdul".[6]
For the runway, Kennedy Davenport wears arainbow-colored outfit covered inrhinestones. Violet Chachki says her own look is inspired byburlesque,Marlene Dietrich, andVictor Victoria.[6] Ginger Minj wears apageant-style dress with whitefringe. Pearl describes her look as "sexy" and "vintage", and Kressley calls her look "something from theDee Snider intimates collection".[5]Entertainment Weekly called her outfit anegligee with a "gauzy"cape.[17] Writers forThe Guardian said Violet Chachki wore "another super-tightcorset looking, for all the world, likeSally Bowles inCabaret" and Pearl presented "a veryMadonna circaBlond Ambition inspired number".[3]
Oliver Sava ofThe A.V. Club gave the episode a rating of 'C' and said it was "a total drag ... losing the energy and character that makes this series so enjoyable and replacing it with sob stories and bitterness as the queens get ready to head into the finale." Sava opined:
The biggest problem with this episode is that it's another final competition episode with four queens instead of three, which means the individual contestants don't get as much time in the spotlight... A four-person lip sync is fun when its two pairs, but four individuals lip syncing is chaotic and unfocused; nobody comes out on top because there's so much happening on stage, so everyone gets lost in the madness. We'll find out who wins it all in two weeks, but this episode doesn't do much to build anticipation for the finale.[7]
The Guardian said the episode "got pretty shady" with "the two bigger, older glamour queens on one side of the room and the two skinny, pretty-girl millennial queens on the other".[3] Joe Ehrman-Dupre ofIndieWire said the episode was atypical and wrote, "This time, things get personal, and while the challenge is important, the episode is really all about the queen's stories and interactions".[20]Channel Guide Magazine said: "It's hard to follow-up 'Sissy That Walk', which was so fun for last season's finale. 'Born Naked' is just kind of a 'meh' tempo and doesn't seem to give the girls much to do in their lip synch."[5] In a 2016 review of asimilar episode for theeighth season in which the final four contestants appear in a music video to a RuPaul song ("The Realness"), Michael Malice ofThe New York Observer wrote, "This challenge is clearly irrelevant in choosing who goes forward. Last year, Kennedy Davenport—one of the best dancers the show has ever seen—ended up sashaying after the equivalent episode, while two-left-feet Pearl remained."[21] In 2019, Bernardo Sim included Pearl inScreen Rant's overview of ten contestants who participated in the finale but had no chance of winning. He said Pearl "agitated a significant number of fans" for being a finalist instead of Kennedy Davenport.[22]
It seems implausible in hindsight: Even before Ellen DeGeneres came out, America embraced a black female impersonator with the subversive message 'We're born naked, and the rest is drag.'
With that said, fans seem to often forget that actress, choreographer, and trans icon Candis Cayne appeared on the show various times, choreographing the finalists on seasons 4, 5, and 7. Then, on season 9, Candis sat in the judging panel for the Snatch Game episode.
_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
